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Morphing Software - any suggestions?

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Walt,

Very many thanks for replying to such an old post, I'm most grateful.

I'll look at the product although at $100 it looks a tad expensive.--Regards,Robin [Redbreast]
 
Dali Moyzes said:
There is a great pro morphing
software in the English magazine
Digital Photography Made Easy
offered free with the magazine.
Click to expand...
Wow, professional morphing, That's great - tell us about it! What pro features does it have? Does it do layered morphing? Does it have an onionskin interface or a dual-window interface, or both? Does it do motion morphing? How many types of tools to select regions does it have? Does it handle transparency and velocity separately, so transitions can be retarded/advanced? Does it handle alpha channels? Does it support plug-ins for file formats or effects? What file formats does it support without plug-ins, and what animation formats does it support? Is there a Wizard to guide new users? Is there an animated preview? If there is, is it a full color preview of the result or the morph control objects themselves, or both? Waht operations can you perform on morph control objects? What platform does it run on? How fast is it for, say, video size frames?

Previous to your post, I knew of only two packages that could honestly be considered "pro" morphing tools - it's great that you have found a third, but we want to know all about it!

walt
 
Hey Walt, :)

Don't mean to pick on you, but I just wanted to make sure you hadn't left out any questions there. (I Counted at least 20) I don't mean to sound bad here,... I'm actually laughing as I type this cause I don't think I've ever seen so many questions in one paragraph! Anyways, don't take it personally, I mean this all in good humor.

I was just wondering what the other programs you were aware of were,... are you aware of Elastic Reality?

Troy
 
For me, who did 2 morphs ever, this one is a pro sware.

I am not doing Michael Jackson videos.

Can you do layered morphing on your brain waves?
Walt Richmond said:
Dali Moyzes said:
There is a great pro morphing
software in the English magazine
Digital Photography Made Easy
offered free with the magazine.
Click to expand...
Wow, professional morphing, That's great - tell us about it! What
pro features does it have? Does it do layered morphing? Does it
have an onionskin interface or a dual-window interface, or both?
Does it do motion morphing? How many types of tools to select
regions does it have? Does it handle transparency and velocity
separately, so transitions can be retarded/advanced? Does it handle
alpha channels? Does it support plug-ins for file formats or
effects? What file formats does it support without plug-ins, and
what animation formats does it support? Is there a Wizard to guide
new users? Is there an animated preview? If there is, is it a full
color preview of the result or the morph control objects
themselves, or both? Waht operations can you perform on morph
control objects? What platform does it run on? How fast is it for,
say, video size frames?

Previous to your post, I knew of only two packages that could
honestly be considered "pro" morphing tools - it's great that you
have found a third, but we want to know all about it!

walt
Click to expand...
--Fear Not !
 
Troy Robinson said:
Don't mean to pick on you, but I just wanted to make sure you
hadn't left out any questions there. (I Counted at least 20)
Click to expand...
There would have been plenty more more questions if this had actually turned out to be "pro" software by the poster's further testimony. Resolution limits, morphing technology(s), color spaces, and of course price for the full version if the magazine's version turned out to be a "teaser" as is sometimes the case. And more. :)

There are truly lots and lots of interesting things you can do with really good morphing and warping software, so I'm always looking for more features and capabilities in this area.
Troy Robinson said:
don't mean to sound bad here,... I'm actually laughing as I type
this cause I don't think I've ever seen so many questions in one
paragraph! Anyways, don't take it personally, I mean this all in
good humor.
Click to expand...
Believe me, absolutely no offense taken. I'm perfectly comfortable asking questions. Even when, as in this case, it turns out to have been a false hope (see reply from original poster).
Troy Robinson said:
I was just wondering what the other programs you were aware of
were,... are you aware of Elastic Reality?
Click to expand...
Yes, I sure am, that's one of the two I was referring to. The other is WinImages.

walt
 
I'm absolutely flabberghasted at some of the prices being quoted here. I have Morph from Print Artist Version 2.5 and it cost me £10 sterling. Further to that the same package has been on the cover disks of UK digital photography magazines for free save the magazine's cover price.

I'm not quite sure what your application is but I'd try and find one of the cover disks before spending any $100...

Michael http://www.360sphere.com
Walt Richmond said:
Dali Moyzes said:
For me, who did 2 morphs ever, this one is a pro sware.
Click to expand...
Ah. So what you're saying is, you're a complete amatuer in this
area, but you're comfortable defining "pro" for others. Greaaaat.
Walt Richmond said:
I am not doing Michael Jackson videos.
Click to expand...
Yes, and... ???
Walt Richmond said:
Can you do layered morphing on your brain waves?
Click to expand...
Certainly. :)

walt
Click to expand...
 
Michael McKelvey said:
I'm absolutely flabberghasted at some of the prices being quoted
here. I have Morph from Print Artist Version 2.5 and it cost me £10
sterling. Further to that the same package has been on the cover
disks of UK digital photography magazines for free save the
magazine's cover price.
Click to expand...
Well, ok, you're flabbergasted. So apparently, you don't know, or can't imagine, what a morphing program might offer that might be worth paying more for it than 10 pounds sterling. That's fine, but it doesn't mean that there aren't other things offered that you're not familiar with - there are. It also doesn't mean that those things are worthless because you don't know about them.

You know, you can get fairly interesting image editing software for free, zero pounds or dollars. (The Gimp). But people - especially professionals - still put out many hundreds of dollars for WinImages, Photoshop, QFX and so on. Why? Because they can get things accomplished in them that they can't in the Gimp. Lots of things. Things you'd no doubt be flabbergasted by. :)

The fact that you don't need, or didn't know that you could use, or don't know how to use, capabilities in a high end package doesn't invalidate their reason for existing, or invalidate the market price for them.

With regard to morphing in particular, there are huge, huge differences in the underlying software engines that do the morphing, even without regard to the "how" of the interface and the sugar-coating of some of the really cool features that you could arguably do without (like dual interfaces and animated wire-frame previews and contrast/brightness/hue adjustment). For instance, the output quality of Elastic Reality and WinImages is so much higher than your 10 pound limpware application even a late-stage cataract patient could likely make out the differences. Especially for complex morphs. Objects that would tear and fold awfully in your 10 pound package will morph beatifully in these two packages.

User interface, while "window dressing" to some, means something to those of us to whom time is money. The tools in either of the big packages make very short work of jobs that would either take you days, or you couldn't do at all, in packages that are point-and-line based or grid-based.

If you search the web, you'll find all kinds of "freeware" morphing packages. They pretty much all use the same few sets of math, the same engines, if you will. That's all stuff that's been published in public papers by academics, and lots of coders have whacked them into applications you can use. But if you watch movies, and they credit the special effects, or you hunt down the effects/post companies that did them and ask, you're going to find almost universally that the credits are either Elastic Reality or WinImages. That's it. Those two, no others. You think effects companies LIKE to spend hundreds of dollars on applications if they could get something "just as good" for free? Not bloody likely!

That's why I try out every morphing program I can find. I want to be "right on it" when the next Elastic Reality or WinImages program pops up. IT sure hasn't happened yet. I use morphing for a lot of things. Things you might be flabbergasted by. And definitely things you can't do with your 10 pound wonder. :)

walt
 
Walt Richmond said:
That's why I try out every morphing program I can find. I want to
be "right on it" when the next Elastic Reality or WinImages program
pops up. IT sure hasn't happened yet. I use morphing for a lot of
things. Things you might be flabbergasted by. And definitely things
you can't do with your 10 pound wonder. :)

walt
Click to expand...
Dear Walt,

May be you tried also HiJaak Morph.

The latest version from the developers is MorphMan 3. Would be interesting to know your opinion about output quality.
Something between 10 pound software and Elastic Reality/WinImages?

http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/morphing/index.htm?terms=morphman

Regards,
Vasily Loginov
 
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